Server

ABSTRACT

A server, for being disposed in a server cabinet removably, includes a shell, a mother board, a power input port and a connecting element. The mother board is disposed in the shell. The power input port, disposed on the shell, is electrically connected to the mother board. The power input port is used for inputting power to the mother board. The connecting element is disposed on the power input port and electrically connected to the mother board. The connecting element is used for making the mother board communicate with a rack management controller so the rack management controller determines the position of the server in the server cabinet according to the communication. With the server removed from the server cabinet, the power input port and the connecting element are separated from the electrically conductive component and the one of the connectors, respectively, to stop the electrical connection.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a)on Patent Application No(s). 201210355059.3 filed in China on Sep. 21,2012, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field of the Invention

The disclosure relates to a server, and more particularly to a server ofa rack server system.

2. Description of the Related Art

So far, the world is in a highly-developing information technology era,and therefore, each enterprise or human being takes a personal computer(such as a desktop or a laptop) to do daily tasks. Moreover, with thematurity of telecommunication technology, conventional regional commercemodel has already been replaced by transnational electronic business(e-business) such that e-business has become a trend. However,conventional personal computers may not be satisfied by the enterpriserequirement for e-business. Thus, computer manufacturers develop aserver with certain functions (such as cloud server, firewall server,etc.) in order to solve the problem of e-business for enterprises.

Take rack server system for an example, the rack server system includesa cabinet and multiple servers which are disposed in the container. Inother words, the rack server system is that the multiple servers aredisposed in the same cabinet simultaneously. Such a rack server systemnot only save more space and is easy to be managed but also executes alarge amount of operations by the multiple coordinated servers. Thus,this rack server system is generally adopted in the enterprises.However, when each server is assembled in the cabinet, engineer needs toconnect each server to the cabinet by wires in order to make each serverbeing electrically connected to the cabinet precisely one by one.Therefore, it is time consuming and inconvenient for the engineer toassemble the rack server system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The disclosure discloses a server for being disposed in a server cabinetremovably. The server cabinet comprises a power supply, an electricallyconductive component, a rack management controller and a signalconnecting base. The power supply is electrically connected to theconductive component. The rack management controller is electricallyconnected to the signal connecting base. The signal connecting baseincludes multiple connectors. The server comprises a shell, a motherboard, a power input port and a connecting element. The mother board isdisposed on the shell. The power input port is disposed on a side of theshell and electrically connected to the mother board. The power inputport is used for being electrically connected to the electricallyconductive component to input power to the mother board. The connectingelement is disposed on the power input port and is electricallyconnected to the mother board. The connecting element is used for beingconnected to one of the connectors to make the mother board communicatewith the rack management controller such that the rack managementcontroller determines the position of the server in the server cabinetaccording to the communication. With the server removed from the servercabinet, the power input port and the connecting element are separatedfrom the electrically conductive component and the one of theconnectors, respectively, to stop the electrical connection.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure will become more fully understood from thedetailed description given herein below for illustration only, and thusare not limitative of the present disclosure, and wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a rack server system accordingto an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exploded view of the rack server system in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates a perspective view of a server in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4A illustrates a perspective view with another viewing angle of aserver cabinet in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4B illustrates a partially perspective view with another viewingangle of a server cabinet in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5A illustrates a partial perspective view of a server cabinet inFIG. 4B;

FIG. 5B illustrates a block diagram of multiple components electricallyconnected to each other in a server cabinet;

FIG. 6 illustrates a partially enlarged exploded view of the rack serversystem in FIG. 2; and

FIGS. 7 to 9 illustrate partially front views of the server and theserver cabinet in FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed features and advantages of the disclosure are describedbelow in great detail through the following embodiments, the content ofthe detailed description is sufficient for those skilled in the art tounderstand the technical content of the present disclosure and toimplement the disclosure there accordingly. Based upon the content ofthe specification, the claims, and the drawings, those skilled in theart can easily understand the relevant objectives and advantages of thedisclosure.

Please refer to FIGS. 1 to 3, FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of arack server system according to an embodiment of the disclosure, FIG. 2illustrates an exploded view of the rack server system in FIG. 1, andFIG. 3 illustrates a perspective view of a server in FIG. 2.

A rack server system 10 in this embodiment takes a cabinet type rackserver system for an example. The rack server system 10 comprises aserver cabinet 100 and at least one server 200. The server 200 isdisposed in the server cabinet 100 in a removable way.

Furthermore, the server 200 comprises a shell 210, a mother board 240, apower input port 220 and a connecting element 230.

The mother board 240 is disposed in the shell 210.

The power input port 220 is disposed on the shell 210. The power inputport 220, electrically connected the mother board 240, protrudes fromone side of the shell 210. Furthermore, the server 200 comprisesmultiple first fixing elements 250 which pierce the power input port 220and the shell 210 such that the power input port 220 is fixed to theside of the shell 210. However, the number of the first fixing elements250 is not limited to the disclosure, and the person skilled in the artmay adjust the number of the first fixing element 250 according toactual requirement. Moreover, the power input port 220 includes asurface 221 which is disposed on an end of the power input port 220 awayfrom the shell 210. Two power sockets 222 and two positioning holes 224all are disposed on the surface 221 and are arranged abreast andseparately, and the two power sockets 222 are positioned between the twopositioning holes 224. The two power sockets 222 are electricallyconnected to the mother board 240 and are used for receiving an outerpower source such that power from the power source may be supplied tothe mother board 240. The two positioning holes 224 provide positioningfor the server 200 when the server 200 is disposed in the servercabinet.

However, in this embodiment, the number of the positioning holes 224 isexemplary, but not limited to the disclosure. For example, in otherembodiments, the number of the positioning hole(s) 224 may be one ormore than two.

The connecting element 230 is in the vicinity of the power input port220 and electrically connected to the mother board 240. Furthermore, theconnecting element 230 comprises a main body 231 and a protruding part232 disposed on an end of the main body 231. The protruding part 232 hasan electrically conductive layer 234. The server 200 further comprisesmultiple second fixing element 260 which pierce the main body 231 of theconnecting element 230 and the power input port 220 such that theconnecting element 230 is fixed on a lateral surface 223 of the powerinput port 220. Moreover, the lateral surface 223 is in the vicinity ofand substantially perpendicular to the surface 221 of the power inputport 220. When the connecting element 230 is fixed on the lateralsurface 223 of the power input port 220, the protruding part 232 of theconnecting element 230 protrudes from the surface 221 of the power inputport 220. However, the number of the second fixing elements 260 is notlimited to the disclosure and the person skilled in the art may adjustthe number of the second fixing element 260 according to actualrequirement.

Moreover, in some embodiments, an adapter board 270 may further bedisposed in the power input port 220 and be electrically connected tothe mother board 240 and the connecting element 230 such that theconnecting element 230 may be electrically connected to the mother board240 via the adapter board 270.

Please refer to FIGS. 4A to 6 and 2, FIG. 4A illustrates a perspectiveview with another viewing angle of a server cabinet in FIG. 2, FIG. 4Billustrates a partially perspective view with another viewing angle of aserver cabinet in FIG. 2, FIG. 5A illustrates a partial perspective viewof a server cabinet in FIG. 4B, FIG. 5B illustrates a block diagram ofmultiple components electrically connected to each other in a servercabinet, and FIG. 6 illustrates a partially enlarged exploded view ofthe rack server system in FIG. 2.

A server cabinet 100 in this embodiment may contain the multipleabove-mentioned server 200 and comprise a container 110, an electricallyconductive component 120, a power supply 150, a signal connecting base130, a rack management controller 160 (RMC) and a fan wall 170.

The container 110 may be approximately divided into an upper space 1101,a middle space 1102 and a lower space 1103. The middle space 1102 of thecontainer 110 is used for containing the power supply 150 and the RMC160. The upper space 1101 and the lower space 1103 of the container 110both include multiple loading grooves 114, respectively. Each of theloading grooves 114 has a group of loading rails 112 which are used forsupporting the shell 210 of the server 200 such that the server 200 maybe assembled in the loading grooves 114. Moreover, a supporting bracket118 may be disposed on a side of the container 110 and extend from alower side of the container 110 toward an upper side of the container110.

The electrically conductive component 120 is disposed on the supportingbracket 118 for being fixed to the container 110. The electricallyconductive component 120 extends from the lower side of the container110 toward the upper side of the container 110, and the electricallyconductive component 120 further comprises at least two electricallyconductive pins 122 protruding from a surface of the electricallyconductive component 120. In this embodiment, the electricallyconductive component 120 includes multiple groups of the electricallyconductive pins 122 and each group has two electrically conductive pins122 arranged abreast. Each group of the electrically conductive pins 122(including the two electrically conductive pins 122) corresponds to oneof the loading grooves 114. Each group of the electrically conductivepins 122 (including the two electrically conductive pin 122) is used forinserting into the two power sockets 222 of the power input port 220 ineach of the servers 200 such that the power input port 220 iselectrically connected to the electrically conductive component 120.

Moreover, in some embodiments, the container 110 comprises at least oneguiding pin 116 disposed on the supporting bracket 118 of the container110. In this embodiment, the two guiding pins 116 forming a group arearranged side by side (namely, abreast), and each group of the guidingpins 116 (including the two guiding pins 116) corresponds to one of theloading grooves 114. Moreover, the guiding pins 116 are in the vicinityof the electrically conductive pins 122. In detail, the two electricallyconductive pins 122 in the same group are positioned between the twoguiding pins 116 in the same group. The guiding pins 116 are used forinserting into the corresponding positioning holes 224 of the powerinput ports 220 of the server 200 respectively, so as to provide guidingas well as positioning during assembling the server 200 into the loadinggroove 114 of the server cabinet 100. In other words, the positioningholes 224 are used for insertion of two guiding pins 116.

However, in this embodiment, the number of each group of the guidingpins 116 is exemplary, but not limited to the disclosure. In otherembodiments, only if the number of the guiding pins 116 matches withthat of the positioning holes 224 of the power input port 220 of theserver 200, the benefit of the disclosure may be achieved as well.

Moreover, in some embodiments, a length L1 represents the length thatthe guiding pin 116 protrudes from the surface of the electricallyconductive component 120, and a length L2 represents another length thatthe electrically conductive pin 122 protrudes from the surface of theelectrically conductive component 120, shown in FIG. 7, which is apartially front view of the server and the server cabinet in FIG. 2.Therefore, during the process of assembling the server 200 into theserver cabinet 100, the guiding pins 116 are inserted into thepositioning holes 224 before the electrically conductive pins 122 areinserted into the power sockets 222. In this way, the accuratepositioning between the electrically conductive pins 122 and the powersockets 222 are achieved for preventing the server 200 from dislocationwhen assembling. If the dislocation happens, the electrically conductivepin 122 may be collided by the surface 221 of the power input port 220,which causes the electrically conductive pin 122 to be fractured.

Moreover, in this embodiment, the power supply 150 is disposed in themiddle space 1102 of the container 110. The power supply 150 iselectrically connected to the electrically conductive component 120 andused for converting an external alternating current power into a directcurrent power. The power supply 150 supplies the direct current power toeach of the servers 200 via the electrically conductive component 120.Therefore, additional built-in power supply modules do not need to beprovided for each of the servers 200 and the direct current power neededby each of the servers 200 is supplied by the power supply 150 in themiddle space 1102 of container 110 such that the inner space of each ofthe servers 200 can be used flexibly and the cost of each of the servers200 can be lowered.

In this embodiment, multiple signal connecting bases 130, provided, aredisposed on the supporting bracket 118 of the container 110 and in thevicinity of the electrically conductive component 120. Each of thesignal connecting bases 130 includes multiple connectors 132 whichcorrespond to the loading grooves 114, respectively. The connectors 132are used for being connected to multiple corresponding connectingelements 230 of the servers 200, respectively.

The RMC 160 is disposed in the middle space 1102 of the container 110.The fan wall 170 is positioned on a side of the container 110 forproviding heat dissipation for each element in the container 110. Thefan wall 170 comprises multiple fan sets 172. Each of the fan sets 172comprises a fan controller board 174. Moreover, each of the signalconnecting base 130 further comprises a signal port 136 which iselectrically connected to the multiple connectors 132 at the same signalconnecting base 130. Each of the signal ports 136 may be electricallyconnected to a port (not shown) of the fan controller board 174 via acable 138. Furthermore, each of the fan controller boards 174 may beelectrically connected to a port (not shown) of the RMC 160 via othercable (not shown) such that an electrical connection relationshipbetween the RMC 160 and the signal connecting base 130 is achieved. TheRMC 160 communicates with the mother board 240 of the server 200 via thefan controller board 174, the connector 132 of the signal connectingbase 130 and the connecting element 230 of the server 200. The positionof the connector 132 is about that the connector 132 is in which row ofthe container 11. The position of each connector 132 is determined inthe container 110. Each connector 132 is corresponding to an area forthe one sever 200 to position. The RMC 160 may determine the position ofthe server 200 in the container 110 according to the position of theconnector 132 through which the communication data sent back by themother board 240 of the server 200 is transmitted. Since the multipleconnectors 132 of the signal connecting base 130 may all share thesingle signal port 136, the number of the ports of the fan controllerboards 174 and that of the RMC 160 may be reduced. The position of theserver 200 is about that the server 200 is in which row of the container110.

However, in this embodiment, the RMC 160 is electrically connected tothe signal connecting base 130 via the fan controller board 174, butthis feature is not limited to the disclosure. For example, in otherembodiment, the RMC 160 may be directly connected to the signalconnecting base 130 without passing through the fan controller board174. That is to say, the RMC 160 may communicate with the mother board240 of the server 200 directly via the connector 132 of the signalconnecting base 130 and the connecting element 230 of the server 200.Also, the RMC 160 may determine the position of a certain server 200 inthe container 110 according to the position of the connector 132 throughwhich communication data sent back by the mother board 240 of the server200 are transmitted.

Moreover, in some embodiments, the server cabinet 100 may furthercomprise a retaining element 140 which is fixed on the supportingbracket 118 of the container 110, and the signal connecting base 130 isdisposed on the retaining element 140. Furthermore, the retainingelement 140 may include at least one positioning element 142, and thesignal connecting base 130 may include at least one positioning pit 134.The positioning element 142 is disposed in the positioning pit 134 suchthat a positioning effect when the signal connecting base 130 isdisposed on the retaining element 140 is achieved. However, in thisembodiment, the number of the positioning element 142 and thepositioning pit 134 is three, respectively, but not limited to thedisclosure. The person skilled in the art may adjust the number of thepositioning elements 142 and the positioning pits 134 according toactual requirement.

In addition, in some embodiments, the first fixing element 250 mayfurther comprise an elastic structure 252, referring to FIG. 6, theelastic structure 252 may be a spring. The elastic structure 252 makesthe power input port 220 slightly moveable relative to the shell 210such that the position of the connecting element 230 can be adjusted tocorrespond to that of the connector 132.

Please refer to FIGS. 6 to 9 and 2. FIGS. 8 and 9 illustrate a partiallyfront view of the server and the server cabinet in FIG. 2.

When installing the server 200 into the corresponding loading grooves114 of the server cabinet 100, the server 200 is positioned on theloading rail 112 and is moved toward the supporting bracket 118 in ahorizontal direction. Afterwards, the length L1 that the guiding pin 116protrudes from the surface of the electrically conductive component 120is greater than the length L2 that the electrically conductive pin 122protrudes from the surface of the electrically conductive component 120(shown in FIG. 7), that the guiding pin 116 is inserted into thepositioning hole 224 earlier (shown in FIG. 8). Moreover, by thepositioning effect between the guiding pin 116 and the positioning hole224, the electrically conductive pin 122 is enabled to align with thepower socket 222 such that the electrically conductive pin 122 may beinserted into the power socket 222 smoothly without interference. Inother words, the power socket 222 is used for insertion of theelectrically conductive pin 122. Moreover, while the electricallyconductive pin 122 is inserted into the power socket 222 to beelectrically connected to the power input port 220, the connectingelement 230 is simultaneously inserted into the connector 132 of thesignal connecting base 130 to be electrically connected to the signalconnecting base 130.

At this moment, the RMC 160 may determine that the power input port 220and the electrically conductive component 120 are in electricalconnection state depending on the electrical connection state betweenthe connecting element 230 of the server 200 and the connector 132, soas to make the power supply 150 supply the power to the server 200. Inthe mean time, the RMC 160 communicates with the mother board 240 of theserver 200 via the connector 132 of the signal connecting base 130 andthe connecting element 230 of the server 200. The RMC 160 determinesthat the position of the certain server 200 is in which row of the upperspace 1101 or the lower space 1103 in the container 110 according to theposition of the connector 132 through which the communication data sentback by the mother board 240 of the server 200 is transmitted.Therefore, each of the servers 200 is easy to be managed.

Relatively, with the server 200 removed from the server cabinet 100, thepower input port 220 and the connecting element 230 are separated fromthe electrically conductive component 120 and the connector 132,respectively. At this time, the RMC 160 may determine that the powerinput port 220 and the electrically conductive component 120 areseparated from each other to be in the electrical disconnection stateaccording to the electrical disconnection state between the connectingelement 230 of the server 200 and the connector 132. Therefore, thepower supply 150 may stop supplying the power to the server 200. Withthe server 200 installed into the server cabinet 100, the power inputport 220 and the connecting element 230 joint with the electricallyconductive component 120 and the connector 132, respectively.

In the rack server system according to the above-mentioned embodiment,when the server is inserted in the container, the power input port andthe connecting element are electrically connected to the electricallyconductive component and the corresponding connector, respectively. Withthe server removed from the container, the power input port and theconnecting element are separated from the electrically conductivecomponent and the corresponding connector respectively to beelectrically disconnected from each other. The process of inserting theserver into the container makes the power input port connect to theelectrically conductive component as well as making the connectingelement connect to the corresponding connector. Therefore, connectingthe power input port to the electrically conductive componentadditionally and connecting the connecting element to the correspondingconnector additionally are not needed. Moreover, the RMC is providedsuch that each of the servers in the whole rack server system is easy tobe managed.

The foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments of the inventionhas been presented only for the purposes of illustration and descriptionand is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to theprecise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possiblein light of the above teaching.

The embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain theprinciples of the invention and their practical application so as toactivate others skilled in the art to utilize the invention and variousembodiments and with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated. Alternative embodiments will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art to which the present inventionpertains without departing from its spirit and scope. Accordingly, thescope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims ratherthan the foregoing description and the exemplary embodiments describedtherein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A server, for being disposed in a server cabinetremovably, the server cabinet comprising a power supply, an electricallyconductive component, a rack management controller and a signalconnecting base, the power supply being electrically connected to theconductive component, the rack management controller being electricallyconnected to the signal connecting base, the signal connecting baseincluding a plurality of connectors, the server comprising: a shell; amother board disposed in the shell; a power input port disposed on aside of the shell and electrically connected to the mother board,wherein the power input port is used for being electrically connected tothe electrically conductive component to input power to the motherboard; and a connecting element disposed on the power input port andelectrically connected to the mother board, wherein the connectingelement is used for being connected to one of the connectors to make themother board communicate with the rack management controller such thatthe rack management controller determines the position of the server inthe server cabinet according to the communication, and wherein with theserver removed from the server cabinet, the power input port and theconnecting element are separated from the electrically conductivecomponent and the one of the connectors, respectively, to stop theelectrical connection.
 2. The server according to claim 1, wherein thepower input port further includes two power sockets for insertion of twoelectrically conductive pins of the electrically conductive componentsuch that the power input port is electrically connected to theelectrically conductive component.
 3. The server according to claim 2,wherein the power input port further includes two positioning holes forinsertion of two guiding pins of the server cabinet, and the two powersockets are positioned between the two positioning holes.
 4. The serveraccording to claim 1, wherein the power input port further includes atleast one positioning hole for insertion of a guiding pin of the servercabinet.
 5. The server according to claim 1, wherein the connectingelement comprises a protruding part, and the protruding part includes anelectrically conductive layer, and the connecting element is disposed ona side of the power input port, and the protruding part protrudes fromthe power input port, and the protruding part is inserted into the oneof the connectors such that the connecting element is electricallyconnected to the one of the connectors via the electrically conductivelayer.
 6. The server according to claim 1, wherein the connectingelement comprises a protruding part, and the protruding part includes anelectrically conductive layer, and the connecting element is disposed ona side of the power input port, and the protruding part protrudes fromthe power input port, and the electrically conductive layer iselectrically connected to the mother board.
 7. The server according toclaim 1, wherein the power input port further comprises an adapter boardwhich is electrically connected to the mother board and the connectingelement.
 8. The server according to claim 1, further comprising at leastone first fixing element and at least one second fixing element, andwherein the first fixing element pierces the power input port and theshell such that the power input port is fixed with the shell, and thesecond fixing element pierces the connecting element and the power inputport such that the connecting element is fixed with the power inputport.
 9. The server according to claim 8, wherein the first fixingelement comprises a elastic structure for making the power input portmoveable relative to the shell such that the position of the connectingelement is adapted for being adjusted to correspond to the position ofthe one of the connectors.